Don't Look Down
by roktavor
Summary: "That's not a bridge," Wakiya says, fingernails digging into the bark of the tree he's currently hiding behind, "it's a death trap!" (During a training run at Xhaka's, an unfavorable obstacle appears.)


**A/N:** More KumiWaki ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Yugo basically just gets a cameo but it felt wrong not to tag him 'cause I love him.

* * *

 **Don't Look Down**

"That's not a bridge," Wakiya says, fingernails digging into the bark of the tree he's currently hiding behind, "it's a death trap!"

Rantaro – who's standing right in front of the so-called bridge – and Yugo – who's actually halfway across the thing _oh shit_ – both turn around to look at him.

"I'm serious!" Wakiya insists, "I'm not goin' across that thing!" If possible, his grip on the tree tightens, and there are probably splinters in his fingertips by now. He's having a hard time taking his eyes off the literal canyon less than five feet from where he's standing, and the four logs lashed together that someone had the bright idea to call _sturdy crossing_.

Yeah. _No_.

Despite the obvious danger, Yugo strolls back over to their side like it's the most casual thing in the world. "Uh, is he okay…?" he asks Rantaro, halfway pointing towards Wakiya's hiding place.

"Er…" Rantaro meets Wakiya's eyes, then, and he looks the opposite of surefire.

Wakiya ducks the whole way behind the tree, and then turns around and shoves his back against it, still holding onto it with both hands. Maybe, if he doesn't look at it, the sense of impending doom will leave him alone.

"He has a thing with heights," Rantaro says at last.

"I can see that."

"I ain't doin' it!" Wakiya protests again. His fingers are trembling, so he clutches harder, and accidentally breaks off chunks of bark in both hands.

From the other side of the tree, Rantaro and Yugo exchange a glance.

Yugo lets out a longsuffering sigh. "I can take you back, or at least point you in the right direction," he offers. The reluctant tone in his voice doesn't get past anyone.

For a moment, Wakiya considers. Turning back would only be a tiny blow to his pride – he made it most of the way, after all! Sure he might get teased a little, but he can make up some excuse later, like he needed a longer, more intense walk…or something. Anything is better than plummeting to his death.

"Wouldn't we have to climb back up that cliff, though?"

Leave it to Rantaro to ruin everything.

"Oh," Yugo says.

He probably remembers the way Wakiya had practically suctioned himself to Rantaro's back, clinging to his shoulders and nearly tripping them both up multiple times on the way down. Wakiya sure does. That path was _narrow_. No way is he doing that again.

But the alternative….

"Yugo, why don't you go on ahead and catch up with the others?" Rantaro offers.

There's the soft sound of shuffling feet as Yugo apparently considers. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I think I can get us back from here."

"Alright. Good luck!"

From the sound of it, Yugo is leaving now, and as he goes, Rantaro yells after him. "If we aren't there in an hour, send Xhaka to come find us!"

Wakiya can hear the muffled sound of Yugo's laughter, and then nothing.

From his safe haven behind the tree, Wakiya is still trying to ignore that he has a choice to make here. He hears footsteps approaching, though, and there's only one person that could be.

Rantaro pokes his head around the tree, and then the rest of him follows. "Wakiya," he starts, tone careful, "ready to cross the bridge?"

"I told ya!" Wakiya spits, pushing himself harder into the tree trunk. Maybe if he keeps at it, he'll be able to merge with the tree and never move from this spot. "It's not a bridge, _it's a death trap_!"

"Wakiya, everyone else already – "

"I don't care about everyone else!" Wakiya had almost started to calm down, but now his heart is back to pounding, and his chest heaves with every breath. "I'm not – I _can't!_ "

There's a hand on his shoulder, then, and Rantaro's expression is softer than it was before. "Sorry," he says, "but you know we have to – "

Sure, the pressure on his shoulder helps to ground him a little, but nothing is going to convince Wakiya that he shouldn't vigorously shake his head 'no' at the prospect of crossing a _canyon_ on a _dinky little log bridge_.

"Well do you want to go back?"

Wakiya shakes his head again.

"Then we'll go this way," Rantaro decides. He takes his hand off of Wakiya's shoulder so he can put both on his own hips – it's an awfully confident pose, and Wakiya feels himself wither and slide down the tree a little.

"Y'can't just decide that for me," he protests, but it sounds weak even to his own ears. He does not want to cross that so-called bridge. He does not even want to turn around and look at it again.

Rantaro, of course, leaves the safety of the tree shield and stands off to the side, staring out at the path ahead. "Someone has to pick," he says, "come on!" Then he gestures for Wakiya to follow him and walks off, and he must be _joking_.

Turning around just enough to poke his head out again, Wakiya watches him go. There's no way. There is absolutely no way.

After a few steps, Rantaro must know that Wakiya isn't following him, so he stops his confident gait and turns on his heel. "Wakiya," is all he says, in an undiscernible tone of voice.

"I told ya, I ain't about ta die on that – that…thing!"

Just like that, Rantaro is right in front of him again, staring directly into his eyes. He reaches out a hand, then, and peels one of Wakiya's away from the tree with it. All he does for a long moment is stand there and hold Wakiya's hand, and Wakiya just _knows_ he's up to something.

"Come on," Rantaro says again, giving Wakiya's hand a little tug. "We'll go together. I know you can do it!"

Wakiya puts on his ugliest scowl, but he doesn't dare drop Rantaro's hand. Looks like it's time for a stare down – not that he's stalling or prolonging the inevitable, or anything.

"You've survived worse," Rantaro says, and he tugs again.

Wakiya makes his scowl uglier. "Shaddup."

"It's true!"

This time, when Rantaro tugs, Wakiya unglues his feet and takes the tiniest step he can. And then another, and then one more, and before he knows it, Rantaro has dragged him out from behind the tree entirely.

Now is the time to dig his heels in, of course.

When he feels Wakiya stop and stick fast, Rantaro stops, too.

Wakiya stares down at the ground, shaking, and wonders if Rantaro can feel it where their hands are touching. He can't do this, he can't he can't he _can't_. He tries to yank his hand out of Rantaro's grip, but the other boy hangs on.

Slowly, Rantaro starts walking again, and gently pulls Wakiya along – Wakiya, who is dragging his feet as much as is humanly possible (and then some).

They eventually make it to the edge of the ravine and the beginning of the log bridge, and by now Wakiya has stopped looking down and fixated his frightened stare straight ahead. He physically cannot move now. His hips are locked and his knees are shaking. Both of his hands are twitching.

Sure he isn't _looking_ at it, but he can _feel_ the wide, yawning chasm just inches from his toes. Where the ground falls away into nothing except for a very, very long drop down.

"It's not as far across as it looks," Rantaro says.

Wakiya presses his lips together to keep from screaming at him.

"We'll just take it one step at a time."

He can feel Rantaro looking at him, but Wakiya doesn't dare avert his gaze in case it accidentally falls downward of its own accord. It does that a lot, in situations like this, and he's going for self-control here.

"How – " Wakiya swallows "– How do ya know it's sturdy?"

"Because everyone else went across it just fine."

"Yeah but. What if it's…"

Rantaro pulls on his hand like he wants Wakiya to follow him onto that cursed not-bridge. Ha – yeah right. Wakiya tugs back fervently.

"What if it's _weaker_ now?"

"It's been here for years, it's not any less sturdy – "

Yanking his hand out of Rantaro's grip, Wakiya takes two big steps backwards. " _Years_?!"

Rantaro's got one foot on those lethal logs when he turns around to look at Wakiya. He sighs a little, and then follows Wakiya's retreat. "It's _safe_ , Wakiya," he assures.

The scoff that Wakiya tries to respond with is strangled into a pathetic sound. "I'm still not doin' it! There ain't even any railings on that thing!"

This time, both of Rantaro's hands are on his shoulders, squeezing as his thumbs rub up and down. "I'll be with you," he says, "you'll be fine."

For an embarrassing amount of time, Wakiya just stands there frozen. "Ya don't gotta babysit me!" he protests at last.

"Well then," Rantaro says, letting his hands slide down Wakiya's arms until they grip his hands again, "let's go."

When he turns around to start walking towards that so-called 'bridge', he drops one of Wakiya's hands. Wakiya dredges up all the courage he has and follows…albeit slowly. His free hand may or may not come up to grip the back of Rantaro's jacket.

By now, Rantaro is standing on the haphazard, no-way-it-could-be-sturdy log thing. Wakiya's toes bump into the edge of it, and he jumps at the contact.

"C'mon," Rantaro coaxes, looking over his shoulder, "just one tiny step up."

"Shaddup," Wakiya hisses. His foot makes a couple false starts before planting itself on the wood, and his knees are still a bit shaky as he hoists himself onto the bridge proper. But he does it – that's all that matters, right?

"There. Now, just…come on."

Wakiya tries to focus on how many times Rantaro has said 'come on' in the past half-hour, in the hopes that it'll take his mind off of the current predicament. It doesn't. It does kind of make it easier to focus on walking, because his eyes zero in on the back of Rantaro's head, and so there's less of a chance of him looking down.

…Of course, as soon as that thought crosses his mind, the urge to look down grows. He tightens his fist in Rantaro's jacket and squeezes the sweaty palm in his other hand, and tries to think of anything but that. Anything at all.

'Just don't look down. It's simple. You're already probably like halfway across the giant gaping ravine. There's no reason to look down and ruin it. Face forward. One foot in front of the other. But what if you trip? Better glance down just to – '

"Oh damn," Wakiya whimpers, his knees locking and feet sticking fast to the logs. It really is a long way down, and the bottom of the canyon seems to stretch further away the more he stares at it.

And then there's a hand slipping under Wakiya's chin and tilting his head back up so he's forced to look straight ahead again. His eyes meet Rantaro's wide, brown ones – is he panicking, too?

"Don't look _down_!" Rantaro is almost shouting. "That'll make it worse!"

"I wasn't tryin' to!" Even as he says it, though, his gaze slips downwards again, his head tilting down to follow it. He feels warmth on both sides of his face, and it takes him a moment to register that it's because Rantaro is now using both hands to keep his head facing forward.

"Don't. Look. Down," Rantaro repeats, both of his hands cupping Wakiya's cheeks as he maintains insistent eye contact.

Wakiya's thought process, despite being scattered in the throes of fear, nearly flat-lines. This close, he can see the flecks of mahogany in Rantaro's eyes, and the freckles scattered across his nose that disappear under the bandage. Has he always had those? It's summer vacation, and they've been spending a lot of time outside, so maybe they're new. Wakiya's never noticed them before, at any rate.

Those eyes bore right into his, and it's so much of a distraction that Wakiya forgets where he is. He ignores his immediate peril in favor of pondering the tilt of Rantaro's eyebrows and the curl of his eyelashes. It would be embarrassing if it wasn't making it a whole lot easier to breathe.

His face is getting progressively hotter under Rantaro's hands, though, and wait a minute maybe it _is_ embarrassing – maybe it's absolutely _mortifying_ –

"What're ya doin'?!" Wakiya demands, snapping back to himself at last.

All at once, Rantaro's face flares up red. "Uh, I'm, um –" he stammers, yanking his hands off of Wakiya's face and dropping them to hover at his sides. "N-nothing!"

Wakiya does his best to ignore the impulse to reach up and rub his own cheeks. He wants to not be caught in Rantaro's gaze, but he wants even _less_ to accidentally look down, so he focuses on a spot somewhere over Rantaro's shoulder.

The ground is starting to feel very far away again.

"Let's keep going," Rantaro says. As he turns around, he wipes his palms on his pants before offering one of them for Wakiya to hold onto.

Against his better judgement – and maybe because he can feel his full-tilt freak-out restarting – Wakiya accepts.

From his spot behind Rantaro, and due to the constant mantra of ' _don't look down, don't look down, don't look down'_ looping in his head, it's a little hard to keep track of their progress. If he peers over Rantaro's shoulder in just the right direction, though, he can tell that the smattering of trees on the distant side of the canyon is getting closer.

Also, he swears it's been like, ten minutes. They have to almost be there by now. Surely. Hopefully?

His mental ' _don't look down'_ repetition is interrupted by the all-too-recent memory of feeling Rantaro's warm hands on his cheeks, and Wakiya trips over a knot in the log.

" _Wakiya!_ "

He spends a horrifying moment or two teetering, and only manages to catch his balance by shoving his face into Rantaro's back and wrapping his unoccupied arm around the waist in front of him. His other hand is still clasped securely in Rantaro's.

Rantaro jolts forward under his weight, but ultimately steadies them both.

"Wakiya, what the heck –" The rest of his sentence comes out a little choked, which might be because Wakiya tightens the arm over his stomach. "We're almost there," he grumbles, fingers of his free hand plucking uselessly at the vicelike arm around him.

"I can't do it," Wakiya mumbles. It's so garbled against the fabric of Rantaro's jacket, he's not sure if he can even be understood.

Rantaro sighs, his hand wriggling between his stomach and Wakiya's arm, trying to pry it off that way instead. "Yes you can," he says, sounding kinda irritated, "you've made it this far."

Wakiya wants to protest. He wants to explain that he is just _too scared_. He wants to tell Rantaro that he's an anchor right now, and if he lets go, then Wakiya will be too afraid to _think_ , let alone _move_. He wants to snap and argue that his phobia isn't too concerned with rationality at the moment and therefore no amount of sense will help.

"Carry me."

But when he opens his mouth, that's what falls out.

"Wha – _no!_ " Rantaro, of course, protests.

Wakiya's mind has made itself up without him, though. The idea of making it the rest of the way across the ravine without having to actually do it himself is wildly appealing. He pulls his head away from Rantaro's back, just enough to free his mouth so his voice is no longer muffled. "C'mon, Kiyama – y-ya've done it before!"

Rantaro huffs, pinching at Wakiya's arm. "That was _after_! When we were on safe ground! If I overbalance here, we'll fall…."

"You won't," Wakiya says. He wants to swat at the hand that's pinching him, but that would involve letting go and giving Rantaro what he wants.

"I _will_ , though – I thought you were scared of falling!"

Trying to articulate that he's more scared of making another misstep than he is of leaving the missteps up to someone else is too daunting of a task. Instead, Wakiya squeezes Rantaro closer and tries to focus on the familiar scent of his laundry detergent.

"Wakiya."

No response. Wakiya can swear he hears the sad excuse for a bridge creaking under their feet. And he's also pretty sure the wind is picking up.

"Wakiya, _please_ , it's only two more steps! You can handle that, right?"

…If Rantaro is lying about that, Wakiya is never going to let him forget it. He feels pathetic and small as he steps away a little, but not so much so that he's willing to let go: one of his hands remains fisted in the front of Rantaro's shirt, and they're still holding hands.

He's absolutely only doing this to check that Rantaro is telling the truth. But looking ahead is a bad idea, because to properly gauge the distance, he has to look down…and when he looks down, he catches sight of the fraying rope that's the only thing keeping this group of logs tied together. …It looks awfully fragile.

"Kiyama," he says, voice trembling, "I gotta get off this bridge."

"Okay, then you have to –"

"I don't." Wakiya swallows, his eyes stuck on the fraying rope, sure that it's unraveling itself right in front of him. "I don't think I can walk."

There's another sigh from Rantaro, and Wakiya is worried for half a moment that he's going to forcibly drag him the rest of the way – but then Rantaro sinks very slowly into a crouch, carefully releasing Wakiya's hand as he goes.

Wakiya wastes no time in slumping gratefully over Rantaro's back, wrapping both of his arms tight over his shoulders.

"If this goes bad, don't blame me," Rantaro grumbles, his ears going red.

He stands up quicker than he knelt down, and Wakiya yelps as they sway precariously for a moment. His legs snap up and around Rantaro's hips, and he squeezes his eyes shut until Rantaro manages to stand straight. He's pretty sure that the other boy must be able to feel his heart pounding where his chest meets his back.

"You okay?" Rantaro says. His voice sounds a bit strained, but Wakiya can't bring himself to let up on his grip – not even when Rantaro's hands grab at his thighs to hold him in place.

Wakiya nods, still refusing to open his eyes. "Just go!"

"Fine, fine…"

And then Rantaro walks, and Wakiya counts no less than _five_ steps until he feels the jerky downwards one that means they're dismounting the logs. He deems it safe enough to open his eyes, then, and even cranes his neck to peek back at the sorry excuse for a bridge. Somehow, it looks even worse after being on it.

Rantaro carries him a few more steps before dropping him – or, well, it would've been a drop if Wakiya wasn't still clinging to him. Instead, Wakiya unwinds his limbs with a few jerks, and then lowers himself onto jelly legs that refuse to support him properly. He's forced to maintain a grip on Rantaro's arm if he doesn't want to collapse.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Rantaro says, infuriatingly _cheerful_.

"Shaddup," Wakiya snaps. He still hasn't caught his breath or calmed his heartrate, and he still can't look at Rantaro.

"Hey, are you –"

Wakiya's legs give up completely, and he slumps down to sit on the grass. Rantaro must follow him, because he's somehow still close enough for Wakiya's fingers to stay curled tight around his arm.

"Wakiya!" That same worried tone from the bridge is back – Wakiya wants to poke fun at it, but he's pretty sure if he opens his mouth, he'll throw up. "Are you okay?"

Instead of answering, Wakiya lets his head drop until it's nestled against Rantaro's shoulder. He feels the other boy freeze under him, but has no energy left to either make a jab or feel embarrassed himself. (Cheating death will do that to you.)

For a long time, they just sit there. At some point, Rantaro wraps an arm around him and leaves his palm to seep warmth into Wakiya's back, and Wakiya's mind reminds him that if they stay here too long, Xhaka will find them, and that would be…embarrassing?

"I'm never lettin' ya talk me inta anythin' ever again," Wakiya grumbles. When he brings a hand up, he means to use it to shove Rantaro away from himself, but it comes across as more of a playful smack to the shoulder. ( _Panicking_ about cheating death _also_ takes a lot out of you.)

He can _feel_ when Rantaro grins, because suddenly his cheek is smushed against Wakiya's temple. "I didn't let you fall, though," he says.

If Wakiya weren't so scared of heights (…and losing people he cares about), he'd drag Rantaro over to the hell-bridge and hurl him into the ravine.

As it is, he sits tight for a few more minutes, swearing up and down to never, _ever_ say –

"Thanks."

…He'll have to work on that self-control thing. Definitely. Today has proven that in the _worst_ way, time and again.

"You're welcome." Rantaro says, still very obviously smiling like an idiot.

"…Y'lied about the two steps, though."

Wakiya isn't sure if it's the reaction he was going for or not when Rantaro laughs.

* * *

 **A/N:** …Rantaro carrying Wakiya the rest of the way was absolutely not what I planned for this at all, but he wouldn't listen to me. Actually most of this didn't really go according to plan. :/

Sorry if Wakiya seems over-the-top frightened, I tried to keep his reactions as close to canon as possible and I'm still not sure I succeeded haha

Thanks for reading.


End file.
